Harvard fencing coach, Peter Brand, fired for conflict-Laden home sale to businessman Jie Zhao



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Harvard University has sacked his fencing coach Peter Brand, involved in an admission scandal related to the extremely suspicious circumstances of selling his home to a high school junior's family , who was then admitted to Harvard as a rookie for fencing.

the Boston Globe An independent investigation opened by Harvard on Tuesday revealed that Brand had violated the university 's conflict – of – interest policy when he sold his home to the wealthy Maryland businessman. Jie "Jack" Zhao, for $ 989,500 in 2016, about $ 440,000 more than his estimated value. Zhao's eldest son, Eric, was then at Harvard and competing with the Crimson Fencing Team; Zhao's youngest son, Edward, was still in high school and "was interested in fencing for Harvard." Zhao bought Brand's house at the obscene markup in May 2016; 15 months later, Edward began attending Harvard as a rookie for fencing; Two months later, in October 2017, Zhao sold the house with a loss of over $ 320,000. In the opinion of Harvard investigators, this sequence smelled of conflict. By the WorldReport of:

"An independent investigation into the case is now over and Mr. Brand has been removed from office for violating Harvard's conflict of interest policy," said Bob Scalise, Harvard Sports Director, in a brief statement released Tuesday. "Harvard Athletics is committed to preserving the integrity of its athletics program and we expect every coach and staff member to unambiguously adhere to our policies."

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Rachael Dane, a Harvard spokeswoman, said the university would not share the details of her external assessment on the subject.

But Dane said, "This situation involved the actions of a person who had broken a clear and explicit policy that all coaches receive and acknowledge understand and agree to abide by, in writing, annually."

The best part of all this was probably Zhao's explanation regarding the purchase of the house. Zhao said he felt bad about Brandham's drive from Needham to Harvard. He therefore asked Brand for an estimate of the value of the house and bought it. Of course, Brand's estimate exceeded the value by more than 44%, but at least Zhao's width prevented Brand from doing the same. [checks notes] 12 miles to work.

"From my point of view, I'm just making a better life and making a good investment," he said.

Zhao said that he had looked at the house inside and out, and that he found it "rather comfortable" and very advantageous, even though it was not. 39 did not carry out an official inspection or an evaluation.

"You can ask me why you did not check the market value of the house? I did not do it because I trust him, "said Zhao. "He gave me the price. . . . I said, "I'm fine."

The brand fired at Harvard for 20 years and, according to the World "It was only the fourth coach of the team since 1931." A federal grand jury would still be investigating Zhao's takeover of the Brand House, headed by the same US attorney, chief prosecutor in the corruption scandal in The Edge College and Career Network.

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